Online trading made easy

Financial Post10.07.2009

Making sense of investing is what the RBC Direct Investing website ‚Äî dedicated exclusively to its customers ‚Äî is all about, says Jason Storsley, RBC Direct Investing president and chief executive officer.

Anyone who has ever tried searching the Internet for specific information knows that it is often like trying to get a drink of water from a fire hose. The flood of sites and bits and pieces of information, which may or may not meet your needs — you never know until you pull them up — is staggering.

The task is particularly daunting when it comes to seeking guidance on smart investing.

There is so much to know and understand about the basics if you are a beginner; so much that can be added to your stock of knowledge as you climb the ladder of investing savvy.

Even for the fast-growing number of men and women who decide to take control of their investments and become active online traders, guidance can play a vital role.

Making sense of investing is what the RBC Direct Investing website — dedicated exclusively to its customers — is all about, says Jason Storsley, RBC Direct Investing president and chief executive officer. RBC Direct Investing is much more than a place to buy and sell investments quickly and cheaply. In fact, it has become a form of online investing grade school, high school and university rolled into one.

“One of our commitments to clients — in fact, one of the prime commitments — is to help clients take as much risk as possible out of investing,” Mr. Storsley says. “The best way is to provide the information and tools they need to understand all the bits and pieces that go into creating, managing and growing a portfolio.

“That means RBC Direct Investing provides almost everything a novice, an experienced or a veteran investor needs to make a success of investing.”

It is a dynamic process, he says. RBC Direct Investing anticipates what clients may need and responds to demand. The site grows almost monthly, it is regularly reorganized for easier access and it adds new information and tools as the sophistication of clients and their level of confidence grows.

“Investing successfully is all about achieving life goals,” Mr. Storsley says.

“Each goal will have a different time frame, demand a different strategy and require different products. So that is where most novice investors, and many sophisticated ones, start — defining those goals.”

In general terms the site allows clients to select from the three top life goals: saving for retirement, saving for a new home and saving for the education of a child or children. Each requires a different approach.

Once the goal or goals are chosen, the best way to start is by visiting the site’s guidance and planning section, he says. This section has been recently expanded and reorganized. RBC recognized the traditional one-size-fits-all approach can be both limited in value and unwieldy to use.

Instead, RBC Direct Investing’s guidance and planning pages offer three different levels to choose from: Novices just starting out, investors with some experience, and sophisticated veterans.

The section recognizes the simple fact that each needs information suited to their level of knowledge; specific information to make the most out of the portfolios that address their needs and experience.

“For the novice, the guidelines and planning section explains all the necessary basics such as risk versus rewards, the impact time lines will have on choice of investments, what financial products are available to meet goals and the upsides and downsides of each,” Mr. Storsley says.

“For the veteran, it offers sophisticated alternative investments such as options, hedging and the different strategies where they can be used to best effect.

“For those in between novice and expert, there is advanced information and tools to meet their needs and their quest for continuing learning.”

The site also helps clients define what type of investor they are, which will naturally determine what products they invest in. They can access a simple online questionnaire and then fill in the appropriate responses on items such as time frames, cash available to invest and tolerance for risk, an exercise that helps them understand the approaches best suited to their personal situations.

“The RBC Direct Investing site is the perfect choice for anyone seeking guidance and a first-rate education on self-directed investing,” Mr. Storsley says. Getting started is as easy as a few clicks on a mouse.

“Then it is up to the clients to decide what they feel they need or want to know about creating wealth, and how fast they want to learn.”

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